Former Brexit negotiator Barnier: UK should get flexibility on euro and Schengen if it rejoins EU

The United Kingdom should be given the option to rejoin the European Union without adopting the single currency or joining the passport-free travel zone, the bloc’s former chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Thursday. “The door is open,” said Barnier, who now serves as a French lawmaker, at POLITICO’s European Pulse Seminar.

“If the British sovereignly choose to seek closer ties with [the EU], I don’t believe we can make it mandatory for them to adopt the euro, abandon the pound or rejoin Schengen.” POLITICO reported last month that Brussels would be flexible on letting Britain stay out of the euro and the Schengen area if it ever applied to rejoin the EU. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wants to eventually see the U.K.

rejoin, even suggesting the proposal could make it into Labour’s next election manifesto. Burnham has said that options could include membership of the single market or customs union, but also rejoining wholesale.